As in the anteroom – a pilgrim that makes up the awaiting of the main piece

Day: 12/06/2018

There’s a long gap between the Queen’s Birthday public holiday and the next public holiday, which would be in November (Melbourne Cup). To make the most of it, Tress and I decided to go away for the long weekend. We booked in this trip many weeks ago and about a couple of weeks ago, Kiddo said they’d like to join us. The house we booked has three rooms so that wasn’t a problem.

We trekked Phillip Island way on Friday morning, and pushed on towards Inverloch. Our weekend abode was to be at Cape Paterson, a tiny town just before Inverloch, south of Wonthaggi. We got there a bit after noon, unpacked and took a walk to the beach just across the road, and a few hours later, Kiddo and Mic showed up. It was an 8-hour drive for them. Canberra is so far away…

We made the short drive up to Wonthaggi for dinner that night and then went back to the villa in Cape Paterson and talked and played cards.

The next day, it was very cold (-0.2 deg)and I took the little fellow out for a walk. . After a leisurely brekky we drove to Inverloch and spent the day there, doing a lot of walking and watching locals and tourists take to the waters, even though it was winter.

On the way back we stopped at the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi. Later that night we headed back to Wonthaggi again for dinner before going back to the villa.

Kiddo and Mic left the next day, and Tress and I (and the little guy) left a couple of hours after that. We got home, unpacked, went out to lunch. Tress then did the laundry and I did some grocery shopping and got a haircut, before settling down for the new week ahead.

It was a wonderful time of being away and catching up Kiddo and Mic. Yet throughout, we – especially Tress – mulled over a piece of news we had received before the long weekend began. Tress’ mum has been diagnosed with a pretty bad illness and will need surgical treatment soon. Tress would probably need to travel to Malaysia again.

We were talking last night about how the year has been peppered with family stuff back in Malaysia. Tress’ Dad was unwell in January and then just before we went back again for my mum’s surprise birthday party, we received news of Sim’s illness. She has barely gotten past her treatment and now this. It looks like the big events happening back in Malaysia aren’t just to do with politics. Like I have come to accept, a “mundane” and “ordinary” life is to be celebrated.